Foxx: DOT to weigh in-flight call ban

The FCC took a step Thursday toward allowing cellphone calls in the air — but not before the Transportation Department announced it will consider using its own authority to ban them.

The move sets up a future sought by many members of Congress and the traveling public: Airline passengers could use their cellphones to text and access data during air travel but not to annoy their seatmates with hours of yapping.

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Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s announcement Thursday came after weeks of outcry from travelers, lawmakers and the airlines themselves about the FCC’s move toward relaxing its long-standing restrictions on both voice and data use of cellphones in flight. Foxx made his statement just before the FCC took up the issue Thursday afternoon.

“We believe USDOT’s role, as part of our Aviation Consumer Protection Authority, is to determine if allowing these calls is fair to consumers. USDOT will now begin a process that will look at the possibility of banning these in-flight calls,” Foxx said in a statement emailed to POLITICO. “As part of that process, USDOT will give stakeholders and the public significant opportunity to comment.”

Any regulation coming from the FAA wouldn’t overrule the FCC’s decision, which would deal solely with the technical question of whether it’s safe and feasible to allow cellphone use on airplanes.

The FCC went ahead with its proposal anyway Thursday, voting 3-2 to issue a notice seeking comment on a number of changes to its rules.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defended the decision, saying that “this is a rule about technology, not about behavior.” While Wheeler said he welcomed Foxx’s move, he pointed out that without the FCC’s change, passengers wouldn’t be able to text, surf the Internet or use email at altitude.

“You won’t be able to do texting, email or Web unless we deal with the issue here,” he said. “With this order we move forward with our responsibility, just as other agencies move forward with theirs.”

The FAA recently decided to allow gadgets like tablets and e-readers to stay on throughout flights, and European airlines have allowed in-flight calls for several years, so there’s little doubt it is safe to make calls from 30,000 feet up. But the annoyance factor still has had people up in arms ever since the FCC started talking about loosening its restrictions.

“Over the past few weeks, we have heard of concerns raised by airlines, travelers, flight attendants, members of Congress and others who are all troubled over the idea of passengers talking on cellphones in flight — and I am concerned about this possibility, as well,” Foxx said in his statement. “As the FCC has said before: Their sole role on this issue is to examine the technical feasibility of the use of mobile devices in flight.”

Wheeler stuck to that stance while testifying Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce’s subcommittee on communications and technology. Wheeler said he wouldn’t want to be stuck next to a loud passenger during a flight either but that it was clear there’s no technical reason for the FCC to block in-air voice calls.

“This is the responsible thing to do,” he said during his opening statement. “When the justification for the rule no longer exists, the rule should no longer exist.”

Wheeler and Foxx spoke by phone Thursday morning to discuss Foxx’s announcement, a fact Wheeler disclosed in his testimony, prompting a frenzy of rumor-mongering on Capitol Hill.

Foxx’s move met little dissent.

Nick Calio, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, testifying Thursday at a House hearing on the aviation industry, said regulators should determine whether allowing cellphones to be used for voice calls in flight is safe and should leave further decisions up to the airlines.

“If they do so, we believe the decision should be left up to individual carriers as to whether they want to institute a policy or not,” Calio said. “In considering that, they’ll consider the safety of their passengers and their crews and customer input.”

Panasonic, the world’s largest supplier of in-flight communications equipment, took a similar stance and said airlines should decide whether to allow voice calls.

“Fears of loud chatter disrupting passengers during flights have proven to be unfounded overseas and reports of problems due to voice cellphone use have been virtually non-existent,” said David Bruner, the company’s vice president of global communications services. “We applaud the FCC for standing up for the American consumer and allowing this process to move forward.”